5 Hot Digital Marketing Skills in 2015

2015 is right around the corner, and modern marketers know better than most how quickly an industry can change. Think about the marketing world you lived in just three or four years ago—it was probably completely different from what you’re doing today.

As the landscape changes, it’s vital that you be able to evolve alongside it. Even a great marketer today can be obsolete in just a few months. If you want to ensure your relevance in the coming year, consider mastering one of these hot skills that are sure to be in high demand for full time and digital staffing positions in organizations of all shapes and sizes in the coming year.

Programmatic Advertising

Interest in programmatic has steadily increased over the last couple of years, and for good reason. More and more organizations are developing tools and strategies around programmatic and finding success. The ability to quickly and with pinpoint precision purchase ad space in a variety of media is just too good to pass up.

It’s already nearly a $10 billion/year industry, and you can expect that figure to continue growing. To get your slice of the pie, start learning and honing your skills now. Familiarize yourself with existing programmatic tools, network with existing programmatic innovators, or maybe even learn how to do a bit of software programming yourself. You’ll quickly become invaluable to your current employer and highly sought after by digital staffing agencies and others.

For more on programmatic advertising, its uses and value to companies and digital staffing firms, click here.

Marketing Automation

The automation of marketing processes, from email distribution to media buying, is freeing up marketers to focus their efforts on creativity, innovation and strategy. Organizations that can take proper advantage of it will be able to reach and react to customers with better messages at more opportune times.

A competent marketing automator that can bridge the gap between marketing and automative tools is worth its weight in gold. So it’s no surprise that companies and agencies are snapping them up as quickly as possible. Even a basic understanding of common automation tools greatly increases your personal brand. A more thorough expertise or the ability to create automation programs yourself all but guarantees you a job.

For more on marketing automation and what companies are looking for in automators, click here.

Analytics

Marketers are awash in a seemingly endless sea of data—we have more than we know what to do with. Companies invest heavily in gathering consumer data and organizing it…then have little idea what to do with the endless spreadsheet and databases. If you’re one of the rare people who can look at a long field of figures and see actionable insights, companies are hungry to have you on their team or work with you in analytics staffing.

Social

We’re already far past the point where you can give any recent college grad with a facebook account the title of Social Media Intern and expect to stay competitive in the competitive space. Marketers took great strides this year in finding new ways to leverage social, from paid advertising to customer service to employer branding and direct sales. Marketing budgets are finding more room for dedicated social media experts who can use it to provide direct value and enhancing all the rest of their company’s functions as well.

For more on social marketing and what top companies and social media staffing agencies are looking for in their social managers, click here.

SEO

It’s strange to think that SEO talent could be a hot commodity in 2015. People have been melodramatically declaring it dead for years now, but SEO has endured and evolved. And it’s no less important or effective.

It is, however, much more involved and difficult. It requires actual experts, rather than keyword stuffers. Modern SEO requires content marketing expertise, social integration, relationship building, user experience optimization and more. All the while, you’re constantly reacting to the fickle whims of a couple of infamous black and white animals.

If you’ve been out of the SEO game for a while, you have a lot to catch up on. Do a lot of research, see what the best optimizers and top rankers out there are doing, and get your finger on Google Search’s pulse by following industry leading minds and blogs.

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